Kelly pulled into the driveway of the storage unit facility and followed the maze of exterior units to the bank where unit 116 was located. She parked a few feet away and grabbed her bag as she exited the Jeep. At the unit’s sliding door, she looked around to make sure there was no one around to see her break into and enter the unit. Well, there was that security camera angled right at her. She turned her head back toward the unit. So much for being stealth.
She pulled out the key she found in Tawny’s purse and slipped it into the lock. Holding her breath, she gave the key a twist.
It worked. She unlocked the unit.
She exhaled. Now she had to figure out if she was doing the right thing? No, of course she wasn’t. She was about to enter someone else’s unit without permission. Totally not the right thing to do, and it was illegal. Yet, she tightened her grip on the handle and slid the door up. With the tips of her fingers, she gave a final push and the door locked into place above her.
If she was caught, she’d apologize. If she found a lead, a clue, or evidence, she’d bring it to Detective Wolman and then apologize. Either way, she’d be apologizing.
The contents of the small unit came into view, and any hope of finding something to help solve Tawny’s murder vanished. Kelly was underwhelmed by the almost empty space. It looked very different from her granny’s unit when she’d first visited.
Instead of boxes stacked on top of boxes and bins stuffed to the brink of not being closed, Tawny had a couple of chairs, an exercise bike, an aerobic step, some other workout accessories, and a card table set up.
On the table was an envelope. Kelly entered and went for the envelope. It was sealed. She shook it and something small jiggled inside.
She considered what to do next. Since she’d already entered without permission, how much more trouble could she get into by opening the envelope? It wasn’t addressed and it didn’t have a stamp. If she opened it, she wouldn’t be breaking any federal laws.
She opened the envelope and found a flash drive.
Now her curiosity was piqued to a whole new level. She had to find out what was on the drive. She set her bag on the table, pulled out her laptop, and turned it up.
Kelly inserted the flash drive and prayed she wouldn’t need a password. A file came up. No password required. She was both thrilled and appalled. She had passcodes and passwords on all of her devices.
Inside the file were three documents, and they were all photographs. She enlarged the first photo, and it appeared to be a financial spreadsheet from the Congregational Church. She studied the numbers. She had limited bookkeeping experience, but everything looked okay with the church’s money.
She clicked to enlarge the second photograph and it was for another church. The Divine Charitable Spirit. She scanned the list of numbers. All deposits. All the same amounts. She clicked back to the Congregational’s spreadsheet and searched the withdrawals.
Money was being moved from the Congregational Church’s account to the Divine Charitable Spirit account. She shrugged. There could have been a dozen reasons for the transfers. The two churches could have been involved in relief programs together.
There was the third document, and it was another financial spreadsheet. She sighed. This was not her area of expertise, unless it had to do with calculating open-to-buy ratios for merchandise.
She reviewed the last spreadsheet for a company named The Omega Agency. It didn’t take a math genius to figure out the company was hemorrhaging money.
She flipped back and forth between the photos, studying the numbers and trying to figure out what they all had in common. And why they were hidden away here in Tawny’s storage unit?
Maybe there was something online that could connect the churches and the Omega Agency.
She opened her browser, searched first for the Divine Charitable Spirit, and came up with nothing. Next, she typed in The Omega Agency.
A result quickly came up. She gasped. It was an advertising agency and belonged to Jason.
It’s always the husband.
What had Tawny stumbled on? What connection had she made between the Lucky Cove church, the ghost church and her husband’s business?
Kelly drummed her fingers on the table. Her mind turned over theories and then it hit her. A financial fraud. Jason and Tawny had been helpers at the Congregational Church. How trusted, as a volunteer, had he been? Trusted enough to gain access to the church’s finances? Had Tawny discovered the deception and planned to turn him in to the police?
Was that why he killed her? But then who killed him? A partner!
Kelly saved the file to her computer and then removed the flash drive from her computer and dropped it back into the envelope. She now had to figure out how to explain all this to Detective Wolman. Or, Detective Barber.
She turned off her computer. After closing the lid, an unsettling thought wormed its way into her head. Jason could have conspired with Serena to kill Tawny.
“No. It doesn’t make sense,” she whispered to no one. Serena had no motive to help Jason kill his wife. If anything, Jason probably had planned to set Serena up. Had he lured his ex-wife to Lucky Cove so he could get away with murder and all that money sitting in the Divine Charitable Spirit account?
Then who killed him?
Her phone rang, startling her. She reached into her bag. She groaned at the caller ID. She should have been at the library already.
“Hey, Ariel. I’m on my way. I just made a stop.”
Kelly juggled the phone between her shoulder and ear while shoving her laptop into the tote.
“Okay. I’m in the community room.”
“I’m heading out now. I’ll be there soon.” Kelly ended the call and slipped the phone in her tote. “Ella! That’s where I saw the stationery.” She fumbled for her phone to call the reporter and confirm.
When she entered Ella’s cottage, she’d noticed, among the papers on the desk, were bulletins from the Congregation Church and letterhead. She couldn’t recall what was included in the typed letter from the church, but it was the same paper as the one on which Jason supposedly had written his suicide note.
Her eyes widened. She knew who Jason’s partner was. And she had handwriting proof back at the boutique.
“I underestimated you, Kelly.”